Getting “Aussie‘d & Alpaca‘d

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We are now into the start of our 3rd week here in Perth and winter is supposedly setting in. NOT!!!!
Ang decided to have a day by the pool last Thursday and low and behold the sky was full of cloud and it rained for oh, all of 10 minutes.. the cloud was gone by Friday and the sun was back, it must be at least 36 degrees now instead of the usual 38..!

Oggy started his new job on Tuesday 4th March and is now back into the full swing of work. Remember when we were telling you all that the Office, tower overlooks Swan River and from the level that the offices are on you have a magnificent view over the river and can see the boats and dolphins? Well.. Oggy spent his 1st day in the tower and was then introduced to his office.. a short 5 minute train ride away in Leederville, with no view of the river as a matter of fact no real view at all, but it does have some good coffee shops ;-)

What can we say about Leederville….?
Apparently it used to be a bit run down!
It has been said to have been a bit of a rough area!
But those were the days when men were men and Kangaroos drank XXXX way back in the 21st century - hmmm - not too long ago!!
Now….. it has become quite a nice little suburb, with great restaurants, some funky little deli’s, a wonderful fresh fish parlour, and as previously mentioned - a plethora of cafes.
In fact you pass more than 10 cafes from getting off the train to reaching the office, after a short walk.
The Office in Leederville:
Affectionately known as HMP Leederville to those of us who have to clock in and out.
The office apparently is owned by a Christian group, who inhabit the other floors.
The décor is sparse, and some would say “typical of most cells at Her Majesties Pleasure”.
It’s not actually that bad, but is typical of most leased buildings which have been derelict for 10 years (think Alcatraz with desks and phones).
The guys there are a mixture of Poms, Ozzies, Indian, Chinese and Philippino.. All good, and a great mixed culture. Some familiar faces, and some whom we will get to know soon enough.



Since our last blog update, we have placed an offer on a house which has been accepted so we are now on our way to being in ‘Aussie debt’ by ways of a mortgage..
The whole house buying scenario is different here, when you find the house you want and have viewed it (as we mentioned before with the ‘agent of choice’) you place an offer in writing and the agent goes to the owners with that written offer…..
The owners can either, accept the offer and proceed to sale of the property or they can place what is known as a ‘counter offer’ so for example..
Buyer sees house for sale at $700,000.
Buyer meets agent and writes an offer for $670,000
Agent takes to seller and seller declines amount and counter offers $690,000
Agent meets buyer and buyer writes a further offer of $680,000
Agent takes to seller and seller declines amount and counter offers $685,000
Agent meet buyer and buyer writes a further offer of $683,000
Seller accepts
House sold…job done..
It’s a bit like the bartering, Oggy described when we bought the car, but with a house!!
Luckily our ‘agent of choice’ is on the ball and we did not have to go through the back n forth bit of bartering, we knew what we wanted to pay and got the house without the hassle..

When you are here as we are on a 457 visa, and are classed as ‘non residents’ the process of when you place an offer on a house, it has to be a conditional offer, subject to finance and surveyor (as is in UK) but also subject to approval from the F.I.R.B (Financial Investment Review Board) these are the people that will say ‘yeah’ or ‘nay’ to the investment you wish to make into the country, regardless of the bank approving the amount you wish to borrow on mortgage terms. So when I say we have a house… it all depends on the men in black.
This can take anything up-to 28 days…..
Once approved the seller has a further 28 days to vacate your new property, so fingers crossed we will have a ‘home’ again very soon and we can start the plastering and ripping out of kitchens and light fittings…again.. oh the joys of DIY..

The weekend was hot, again, and as we are on our way to owning acres of land we went out and about looking at animals. There was an Alpaca information day in Bullsbrook (about 30 minutes away from the centre) where the local Alpaca society were holding presentations, seminars and demonstrations with coffee and cakes… yes we managed to get out of all that stuff and headed straight for the animal pens to talk to the breeders and get some ‘proper’ information..
We found that the Alpaca comes in 2 types, the Suri and the Huacaya (pronounced wakhiya) both are of similar build and stance with the main difference being in the fleece.
Suri - these are the long haired breed and have a under fleece which is silky soft to the touch - looks a bit like rasta dreadlocks on the outside
Huacaya - this carries a sheep like fleece which underneath has a wave or crimp to it - looks a bit like a teddy bear !
It is purely a preference as to which type you want as all Alpacas have to be sheared at least once a year and the fleece can be sold to a Co-operative who then distributes for spinning and weaving. Strangely a bulk of this is sent onto Peru for garment making !! Alpaca’s are indigenous to Peru but apparently the fine breeding here in Oz produces a better quality of fleece (fact of the day..!)
We personally prefer the Huacaya, as not only do they look cuter but the Suri tends to be quite highly strung.. and a bit stand offish.
The alpaca is mainly kept for breeding and the fleece but is also used as a herd guard as they are protective of and mix well with other livestock as they scare the foxes away too.

From Bullsbrook we headed out into the hills in search of one of the Alpaca farms so we could see the type of stock that was for sale and also to see if we could get to know a little more about these inquisitive animals..
A rather nice and helpful upstanding chap at ‘Paradise Alpaca’s’ allowed us to visit and meet a few of his herd including a couple of rather friendly 3 month old white Huacaya’s.
The owner of Paradise has been out here about 15 years or so, he started with a couple of Alpacas as ‘pets’ and it grew from there, the same as all the other ‘breeders’ had told us.. so you never know we could have a field full by next year!!
We need to apply for residency first (Oggy’s preference) before we start to buy animals so we have a business card for Paradise and the 2 little white ones may be our first addition to the family in a couple of months time.. along with their mum (white) a rather nice black one, oh and a chocolate coloured one too 

Mundaring : Sunday market.
The main Suburb in the Hills is Mundaring.
I think that it has a Sunday Market twice monthly.
The Market is a bit Haberdashery come Arts produce.
Think - Hebden Bridge meets Outback.
It is small, yet quaint and lively, with plenty to look at if you have half an hour to spare.
Luckily there was a vintage car show at the same time which was host to a vast number of old Ford (model T) utility vehicles, chevys, corvettes, old Holdens and Cadillacs. All in extremely good condition.
A band was playing “Brown Sugar” in the centre green, and as usual - a great number of people stood around drinking beer and melting in the extreme heat. (Seems to be the thing to do everywhere, over here).
Reckon, it was nice to visit the once………….

During the week, Ang has been out and about in the hire car getting her bearings, there is a new large IKEA up at Innaloo (yes strange name) about 10-15 minutes drive and on Scarborough Beach Road (stretches for miles). There is a plethora of shops ranging from furniture, hi-fi, car showrooms, swimming pool supplies to the Aussie version of Staples..
All in one place so its easy to go from shop to shop and luckily for Ang.. the beach is at the end of the road so shop then chill with the surfers!

When we were in Las Vegas last December, Woody’s dad & Caroline took great pleasure in ribbing us both when we ‘dropped’ the Harley we had hired and had to pay a HUGE excess when we returned it after our 3 day trip down to Los Angeles… well…
Ang was on her way to meet Nicky (Colin’s wife) for lunch on Monday of this week and was waiting at the traffic lights on Mill street to turn left onto St Georges terrace when a council wagon pulled up along side of her in an effort to turn right..
Just so you can build a picture……. Mill Street splits into 3 lanes at the lights, left lane to turn left, middle lane to turn left or right and right lane to turn right also..
The lights changed to green and the council wagon took a swoop out to the left in readiness for turning right (they are not very good at turning corners here) and proceeded to knock the wing mirror of the hire car and push it backwards.. and then went along his merry way turning right.. After a few choice words from Ang, she put the window down and pulled the mirror back to its correct position.
As the council wagon had turned right and gone by now and as Ang thought he had only pushed the mirror back, it was too late and as thought, unnecessary to take down any details.
However………
Once parked up in Subiaco, Ang noticed that not only had the council wagon knocked the mirror back but had also left a rather nice scuff all along the side of the car, starting from the back wing, going along the trim on the drivers door and completing on the front wing… very nice.. Thank god we had not picked up the new Nirvana yet..

The rather nice lady at Hertz was very sympathetic and after trying to give us another car, of which we declined (we don’t want to damage 2 now do we..!) advised us that we should just complete a report when we drop it off in a few weeks and the damage will be assessed. It’s a good job Oggy’s working and bringing the cash home!

Tuesday was beach day, scorching hot weather, not a cloud in the sky and not to be put off by the council wagon experience, I (Ang) set off to City Beach around noon and spent the next 3 hours or so lazing around watching the body boarders and listening to the waves crashing onto the beach… very relaxing.
I even managed to write a couple of letters to friends and family back home (Mum, Dad & Sam - you may find a bit of sand in the paper!)
As the sun was so hot by mid afternoon (sorry guy’s!) I crawled my way along to a small café on the beach, ordered a flat white (coffee to you and I) and an iced water and watched the world go by while writing a long letter to Carli (no sand in your paper chic!). Telling her all about the last week here and the things that we have found that we can share with the kids when they get over here in the summer (UK summer - Oz spring)

After a stressful day…and when Oggy got back from HMP Leederville, we caught the train down to Freemantle, to get good old Fish & Chips for dinner.
Freeyo (as its called by the locals) is a lovely part of Perth and as this is the main port it is full of fish and seafood restaurants.
There were quite a few cargo ships docked as we came into the port, one of which may well have our belongings on! They will be ready for collection by the end of March, not sure where it will all go though, so the customs inspectors can hang onto it for as long as they need to!
Freemantle has a wide range of clothes, nick-nack and ‘arty’ type shops and a good number of bars too which make it quite lively of an evening, especially at the weekends.
All the restaurants near the harbour are overlooking the water and there is a novel place called ‘Little Creatures’ which is a mini brewery as well as a restaurant.. (we went there for dinner with Colin & Nicky last October when we came over for a few days.)
Great food (and beer) and as with a great number of the bars and ‘eateries’ over here, you can enjoy the sea air in the large outside seating areas.

The train down cost $3.40 (around £1.50). Freemantle is 2 zones away from Perth central and once you have paid for the ticket, you can travel anywhere within the 2 zones, within a couple of hours time limit, for the one cost, stress free and cheaper than going in the car, although the petrol is dirt cheap here. All the trains have ‘traffic police’ on board too, a little like the Guardian angels in USA, but in uniform.. so even though there is no threat present at all, you would feel totally safe if travelling on your own or at night.

So, 3 weeks into our new life we have bought a car, signed our lives away with a mortgage, chosen the livestock, found our way around (nearly), frequented the beaches/picturesque spots, bars and nightlife and started work (well Ang starts in a couple of weeks).
We will let you know when / if we get the house and how we plan to renovate it!

Take care all x

Kids - Only about 14 weeks to your uni/college and school summer hols ..
Mum, Dad - Miss you loads, look at flights soon it will start to cool down in April
Woody’s dad & Caz - Get those flights booked!
Sam - sod the saving.. come over this year..
Sharon - Where’s the e mail address you said you were sorting? Get it done Sis !

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Photos

Oggy's desk..
Small office space at HMP Leederville

MIB
AKA - FIRB

Hello..!
Huacaya Alpaca

Cute lil fella
Call me Denis Healy..

Pack 'a' Alpaca's
These Huacaya's are around 12 months old - The Suri (rasta) is at the back

Mundaring
The Sunday Market.. sparse but quaint

More Hot Rods..
The anthill mob are in town

City Beach
This is the life....

Oggy gets battered..
Fish n Chips at Freemantle

Freemantle
One of the many restaurants at the port